Deputy Sheriff and former Texas Ranger. He was killed in a gunfight with the Sam Bass gang, 19 July 1878. It is difficult to fathom why on that Friday afternoon Ahijah A. Grimes challenged the three strangers who were approaching the general store. Ostensibly, it was due to the deputy sheriff he was with having told him he thought he had seen a pistol on one of the three, and since carrying such a weapon was illegal in Round Rock, Grimes was going to question them. Yet, not too many hours before, he had been told by two other lawmen that the Sam Bass gang was planning to rob the local bank, and that a contingent of Texas Rangers was on the way from San Saba. Don't start anything, the two had told him, help is on the way. So, why would a fromer Texas Ranger and a current Deputy Sheriff of Williamson County challenge three strangers under such conditions. Perhaps he felt he was in no real danger. Perhaps the heroism of his ancestors came to the front. His uncle Alfred [AKA Albert] Grimes had fallen at the Alamo. Shorty thereafter, his grandfather Jessie Grimes, a judge, had signed the Declaration of Independence of Texas. Perhaps, momentarily, he had even forgotten about his wife, (Charlotte A.) Lottie [nČe Lyman] [1854/1939] and their three children. We will never know. He asked one of them about the gun. Yes, replied one of them, of course I have one, and the three of them pulled their guns and in a hail of bullets mortally shot Grimes down. He was buried at the Round Rock Cemetery, not too far from where two of his three killers were buried, Sam Bass [q.v.] and Seaborne [q.v., under Seaborn] Barnes. The townspeople raised almost $200 for Grimes' family, and gave her one of the outlaws' horses for compensation.On his headstone the ironically bitter words "Gone But Not Forgotten" were chisled, but for almost 125 years he was forgotten. Songs were written about the outlaw Sam Bass. The road by the cemetery was named after Sam Bass. Baseball leagues in Round Rock were named after Sam Bass. For several decades in Round Rock they have held a recreation of that gunfight, with more emphasis on Bass than on Grimes. Still, sometimes time has a way of correcting the errors and ommissions of the past. On August 24, 2000, the City of Round Rock passed a resolution changing the name of Arterial "B" to A.W. Grimes Boulevard. And, placed next to his grave is now a metal cross, indicating he had been a Texas Ranger. (bio by: Lone Star Time Traveler)

Your family will not forget you, ever! You never will get the credit you deserved for killing Jesse James but your daughter, Elizabeth Grimes Witcher knew you were a True Texas Hero and former Texas Ranger that had shot the outlaw in his side so he bled ...(Read more)-
Janie Kay RichardsonAdded: Jan. 8, 2017